Station: Grand Central (IRT Times Square-Grand Central Shuttle)

From nycsubway.org

Overview

The Shuttle platform and station has recently been renovated and has a nice steam locomotive mosaic in various colors. Originally the passageway to the 4/5/6 was narrower and multi-leveled but was simplified and concrete added to form the current passageway, which is actually part of the original trackway connecting to the east side IRT main line south of the existing main line station. In fact, track 1 still connects to the main line behind the wall on the south side of this passageway.

The Shuttle station in use now is the original Grand Central station on the Day One IRT. However, when the shuttle reconfiguration took place in 1918, a new Shuttle station was to be built nearer to the new Lexington Avenue station's mezzanine. The two north side tracks under 42nd Street would continue east to the new station. Support columns were relocated at the curve just east of the old Grand Central station and a new space was excavated extending to the new Lexington Ave. station, and a center island platform between two trackways was constructed. While the station was being built, crowds using the shuttle at the old station proved to be greater than anticipated, and it was realized that two tracks and one narrow platform would never be enough. The new station idea was scrapped, and the newly built trackways were boarded over. This area is still in use as the passageway from Grand Central on the Lexington line to the Shuttle. The existing concrete floor and walls date from 1964 after a fire burned the wooden flooring. As you walk through this passageway, the planned platform edges can be seen in the concrete floor.

Some relative depths of stations in the Grand Central complex are as follows, +/- 10 feet.